I Will Waltz For You

[crystallions]

Very nice mild Bill! ~ Lydia

[silvercord]

lovely Bill!ahh...in my imagination, its just Miss Piggy and I dancing in thegrand ball room! Kermit is not to be seen!:)really though...another killer tune! you may be breaking all ofyour benjamins now, but they will be coming back to you knocking on your door, bringing their friends someday soon;)i think the harpsichord sound a bit dry compared to the rest of the instruments during the breakdown..if Frank could add just a bit of reverb, it would gel well, i think!peace, Bill!geoff

[stephen1977]

Sept 18, 2008, 5:21am, bwrenhewmach wrote:Sir Paul McCartney once said I just plain adore that ballroom dancing. I also love it. Especially the Waltz. I think it is by far the most beautiful elegant dance of all. This song is the 1st time I have ever used 3/4 timing, and to tell you the truth it came to me by accident. So Ladies put on your Evening Gowns and Gents dig out your Tux and come and Waltz with me. mild Billhttp://www.broadjam.com/browse/songs/top....onID=8A7152E7D4PS it may also be the 1st time a acoustic guitar played the rhythm section by finger picking on a waltz. my signature.Alright, jumping on the review ship here. Allow me to state first and foremost that I am nothing but completely honest with any review that I do. I come from a community of musicians that rip each other a part on a daily basis for the sole purpose of bettering one another. When I was an active reviewer at the Garageband site, I had approx. 3200 reviews under my belt. In other words, if you are thin skinned, don't ask me to do a review. With that being said...I Will Waltz For Youby Bill WrenI love the 3/4 time signature. I have listened to this track numerous times at this point so I am going to start straight from the beginning with my suggestions and critic.The flute sound in the beginning is not a strong enough sound to strike up a serious interest in the piece right off the bat. The intro melody could be thickened with some added harmonies. You do have some Oboe? or something lightly in the background, but I think its just the weak sound of the flute that is really killing it for me. Although I understand why you decided to attack the first few measures this way.. ..I was really left empty the first 15 seconds or so. In other words, the sound just doesn't feel right doing what you are wanting to relay here. Now this does change however...At approx. 17-18 seconds into the piece personal liking to this song starts to see the light of day. At that point when you introduce the guitar and other instruments more prominently I felt instant satisfaction with the arrangement. My suggestion would be to either fade in, maxing at 17-18 seconds, or simply begin the piece around that area. The remainder of the song had many, many beautiful and strong sections and I may be sounding redundant here, but I don't think you need that first 15 seconds or so.I have to admit, as a fan of the acoustic, your guitar tone is sweet. Very delicate and even in the performance, very fitting for this piece. In fact, without the guitar section, this song would not have any where near the integrity that it does. I really like after about 20 seconds or so how you introduce those lovely and warm string sounds. Very complimentary to the emotion and the arrangement. The subtle percussion instruments are almost haunting at times and really accent certain sections well. May I suggest introducing some light acoustic lead work to the song as it progresses? Might sound nice.When you reintroduce the flute back into the arrangement around 50 seconds, its sound is so much more fitting and the melody is very playful, enjoyable, and more so, likable. The transitions throughout the arrangement are done very smoothly and naturally. At approx. 1:20 or so when you really kick up the instrumentation, I almost felt a cold chill down my spine. The counter melodies you introduce here and there (pizzicato, etc.) are vital to this piece and really help keep the song from becoming redundant. Good work there my friend.Now, at the section starting around 2:20ish.. ..not sure how to approach this with you, but that sound has got to go. The cheesy harpsicord sound just kills the entire mood of the piece for me. Sorry to sound so negative about that, but let's face it, a good harpsicord sound is hard to come by and even when you do have a decent sample, implementing it tastefully proves to be difficult. I do need to put out to you that it is NOT the arrangement, nor the melody. The problem here has nothing to do with your composition. The problem lies in sound selection. Instead of the harpsicord, I would possibly recommend using a nice, mellow, grand piano sound with light strings. I think this would help create a more fluid transition into such a drastic change in the arrangement. I think that would be a lot let damaging to the mood of the piece. In fact, I think it would add much to it in a positive light.When coming out of that change, you did a superb job with smooth dynamics and instrumentation. Great work on the instrumentation there. As the song builds and builds dynamically towards that final climax, I really felt the song was at its strongest, in its performance, arrangement and mood. Nice work. I really enjoyed hearing the additional cymbal crashes, percussion, etc. I was going to suggest early on that some light snare with brushes would compliment this piece very well and even a few subtle timpani rolls as the song progresses to better accent the changes.Loved how you ended the piece man. Really. The wind chimes were a perfect choice!All in all friend this song has much potential. Most of my concerns with it involve things that are most likely out of your hands, like that of better sounds. Of course, to be honest, I've never been too fond of using flutes, so that may be why I am so against your current intro. Its subjective I suppose.I can't comment too much on the actual production of the piece as I am listening through laptop speakers presently and they just don't give a nice warm effect. But what I am hearing is a lack of lows. This is most likely due to what I am listening to this through. Your eq over all sounds spot on in my humble opinion. I can't hear much on the bass front, and if there isn't any there, well, there should be.You have a lot of talent my friend.. ..more than I hear with most attempting to write in this genre. Good work. Thanks for sharing the music!

[bwrenhewmach]

Geoff thanks for your kind words and encouragement. You aways want more reverb. lol Steve I feel like I owe you $20 for the custom critique. Thanks so much for your comments and suggestions. I will PM you and tell you about my plan to have the London Philharmonic Orchestra re-do that song and maybe a couple more of my songs next year.

[heinsite]

hey bill--hell if i knew we were supposed to do damn near second by second critique, i would never have bothered--or taken the week off and done so, but of course i am NOT, as you know, a PROFESSIONAL. the ONLY thing i said that still bugs me is what i didn't hear an answer about-- a more "high" violin/waltz-like instrumentation--as to the free custom critique, take it! stephen obviously has a helluva lot more cred than i do and more musical knowledge...the best,wh

[stephen1977]

Sept 19, 2008, 5:01pm, bwrenhewmach wrote:Steve I feel like I owe you $20 for the custom critique.Nah man seriously. I do it because I love it. I enjoyed taking the time to listen. Like I told you in private...Looking forward to the cans listen in a few hours though!

[bwrenhewmach]

very nice as usual, but i'm going to be a bit picky and say i would have liked (if my imagination is hearing it right...) the main strings to be more in the upper range, or maybe a mixture of the upper range and what you have, like the violins/violas in the real waltzes, but hell, that may be TOO picky.Hey Warren To Tell you the truth I don't know how to respond to your comment this is a finished song. One of the things I like to do in my music is to build it Like a house. Lay the foundation first and build on it. If you think about it all my song are like that. Another thing I love to do is bring my songs full circle and end it a lot like I start it. All my songs have finger picking acoustic guitar in them this is my own unique style I don't know if it's right or wrong I really don't care I'm not a follower I'm very Independent and at age 57 I have earned that right. As far as the instrumentation the violins/violas are live and I tried to do my songs as much live as I could with out hiring a full orchestra. Maybe next time. Thanks for your kind words. mB

[heinsite]

hey my mild friend from texas!of course you know i love the tune--i DID say i was being picky, didn't i--(insert a smiley face of your choice...)wh